Furthermore, in using the Orion’s Belt stars in this manner we find that B3 (G3’s counterpart) will always result in a base that is very fractionally rectangular in shape on its north-south axis, while B2 and B1 (counterparts to G2 and G1) will be almost perfectly square. And, as pointed out earlier in this chapter, G3 is indeed very slightly rectangular on its north-south axis, as noted by Lehner, who wrote, “Menkaure’s Pyramid was named ‘Menkaure is Divine.’ Smaller than his predecessors’ pyramids at Giza, it has a base area of 102.2 × 104.6 m (335 × 343 ft).”8
Even today, using satellite mapping technology, we can observe the clear geometric relationship between the pyramids at Giza that is a natural outcome of the design method described above. We can easily observe at Giza how these structures are aligned along “inter-quarter lines” (figure 3.4) that bisect the sides of these pyramids and their Queens’ Pyramids. Such a geometric relationship is unlikely to be the result of simple, random design and placement of these structures.
That it can be shown that the relative proportions of the main pyramids at Giza can be derived simply and easily from the arrangement of the Orion’s Belt star asterism is claimed by some as nothing more than coincidence. This is highly unlikely in the extreme. As stated in chapter 1, the Orion constellation, known to the ancient Egyptians as Sah, became the stellar personification of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, the god of rebirth and regeneration who is associated with agriculture. In their 1994 book, The Orion Mystery, Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert show that the pyramids at Giza present an almost perfect match in their layout to the arrangement of the Orion’s Belt stars. So here we have two quite separate correlations of the Giza pyramids with the Orion’s Belt stars: their layout (i.e., belt asterism) and their relative proportions (i.e., belt geo-stellar fingerprint).
Now, the odds of such an outcome occurring by simple chance are somewhere in the order of trillions to one against. This is to say that if you were to create three random dots on a sheet of paper and ask a friend to create three random bases, to then find that the fingerprint created from your three dots matches the relative proportions, layout, order, and orientation of the three random bases drawn by your friend would be unlikely in the extreme. Yet, remarkably, such a highly unlikely occurrence is precisely what we have before us with the main pyramids at Giza. It is simply inconceivable that such an occurrence could result from simple random chance, so we have to conclude that Giza, contrary to what we are told by conventional Egyptology, is most likely the result of a preconceived, unified plan, a plan that also included the two sets of three Queens’ Pyramids as the culmination markers of Orion’s Belt (more on this in chapter 7).
If such a preconceived plan had been implemented then it is reasonable to assume that the creation of the actual plan could have been conceived and put together very quickly—within days or even hours. Given that ancient Egyptian kings, according to the conventional view, did not plan the tomb of their sons or their grandsons and certainly not their sons’ or grandsons’ queens’ pyramids, then such a preconceived plan to construct nine pyramids at Giza presents a significant obstacle to the conventional view of these structures having been constructed as tombs. And given that this plan (at Giza) would take around eighty years to implement, if they were conceived as tombs, how did the creator of the preconceived, unified plan know that eighty years into the future the king of that time (Menkaure) would only require three queen’s pyramids? How would the designer of this preconceived plan have known that Khafre would not require any queen’s pyramids (despite the fact that Khafre actually had five known queens—more than the other two Giza kings)?
Figure 3.4. Geometric relationship between the Giza pyramids and their Queens’ Pyramids
The simple truth of the matter here is that the planner of Giza simply could not have known the future, ergo he could not have been designing these pyramids as tombs of kings and queens because he simply could not have known how many pyramid tombs to include in the plan. Yet the telltale signs of a preconceived, unified plan are clear for all to see, and in terms of probability, its existence is virtually beyond doubt. As such we have to conclude that the creator of this plan could not have been designing this set of pyramids at Giza (and by extension all other pyramids constructed before Giza) with the intention of the burial of future kings and queens, so we must further conclude that these structures were designed to serve some other purpose altogether.
7. PYRAMID SECURITY
Within the Great Pyramid of Khufu there are a number of curious features that permit us to question just how secure such a structure—were it to have been constructed as the king’s tomb—would have been in fending off unwanted attention. As noted earlier in this chapter, the sheer physical size of the early pyramids would have attracted the attention of the unscrupulous for miles around. Remarkably, when these undesirables reached the Great Pyramid, it seems that its architect, far from making the structure impossible to breach, designed it in such a way as to practically ensure that it could be breached—not exactly the kind of thing a king seeking an eternal afterlife among the gods would remotely have sanctioned. There are a number of features of the Great Pyramid that lead us to this conclusion.
The Trial Passages
Slightly to the east of the Great Pyramid on the Giza plateau are a series of passages hewn out of the bedrock that run deep underground. The arrangement of these “trial passages,” as they are known to Egyptologists, almost exactly replicates (on a much smaller scale) the internal arrangement of the passage system within the Great Pyramid, including the concealed Ascending Passage that leads to the upper chambers of the pyramid, including the supposed King’s Chamber. In effect, the trial passages could be viewed as a map of the interior of the Great Pyramid, showing where to find and how to access the vital upper chambers within the structure.
The Descending Passage
The original entrance to the Great Pyramid was via a stone block that is believed to have swiveled open, revealing the long, unblocked Descending Passage. This narrow passage would take anyone who entered directly down to the lowest chamber known as the Subterranean Chamber. At around the halfway point down the long Descending Passage is the overhead junction of the Ascending Passage, and onward through the passage to the Grand Gallery lie the Ante Chamber and then the King’s Chamber. We have to ask, however, why would the Descending Passage have been left unblocked?
When we consider how Khufu filled in the shaft entrance to his mother’s underground tomb at Giza with rock-and-gypsum cement, we have to ask why this wasn’t done for the tomb of the king. If this was to be the tomb of Khufu, it is simply inconceivable that Khufu would have permitted such easy access down this passage to allow intruders to attack the Prism Stone that once concealed the entrance to the Ascending Passage.
The Ascending Passage, the Granite Plugs, and the Prism Stone
As stated above, the entrance to the Ascending Passage was once concealed by a block of limestone known as the Prism Stone (now lost), and behind this an additional three massive granite plugs served to block this passageway. Given the estimated weight of the Prism Stone (several tons), manipulating it within the narrow confines of the passage system would have been virtually impossible, because it would have been physically impossible to deploy enough manual labor in this tight space for such an awkward and labor-intensive task. This has led some to argue that the Prism Stone was actually set in place during construction of the pyramid and, like the stone block at the entrance to the Descending Passage, perhaps swiveled open to allow entrance to the Ascending Passage. It has been calculated that the opening would have been around eighteen inches, making it difficult in the extreme for any funeral party with a bound mummy to pass through in any dignified fashion in order to reach the upper chambers for the final burial of the king.
It is further believed that the Prism Stone was set in place to camouflage the three granite plugs that were supposedly slid into place down the Ascending Passage (from t
heir supposed storage location in the Grand Gallery) after the funeral party had squeezed themselves back out of the Ascending Passage through the narrow gap provided by the open Prism Stone. Because the passageways are mostly limestone constructions, anyone passing down the Descending Passage would immediately have noticed the different-colored granite plugs that blocked the entrance to the Ascending Passage, hence the need for the limestone Prism Stone that effectively covered the granite plugs, thus camouflaging the entrance to the upper passage system. If that was the case then we have to ask why the builders of the Great Pyramid simply did not block the Ascending Passage with large limestone blocks, thereby making it harder to distinguish them from the surrounding limestone structure. And why mark the location of the Prism Stone (thus the entrance to the upper passage system) on the floor of the Descending Passage? In this regard, one of the earliest pyramid explorers, the Astronomer Royal of Scotland Piazzi Smyth, wrote the following about the location marker, which was found by accident.
Here, therefore, was a secret sign in the pavement of the entrance-passage, appreciable only to a careful eye and a measurement by angle, but made in such hard material that it was evidently intended to last to the end of human time with the Great Pyramid and has done so thus far.
Had, then, that ceiling stone never dropped out at all, still the day might have come when the right man at last, duly instructed, would have entered the passage, understood that floor sign, and, removing the ceiling-stone opposite to it, would have laid bare the beginning of the whole train of those subaerial features of construction . . .9
Why would the builders create a “secret sign” on the floor of the Descending Passage, indicating the entrance to the Ascending Passage right overhead? Why leave such clues to assist in the discovery of the concealed upper passage system where, supposedly, the king’s burial chamber was to be found? Surely such would have been the last thing Khufu would have wanted in his tomb since such markings would surely have invited inquiry, thus leading the intruder to investigate the right spots that would have inevitably led to the discovery of the upper passage system and the chambers beyond. As the tomb of Khufu, it is again quite inconceivable that such clues would have been set in place to assist an intruder.
Granite Plugs
As stated briefly above, beyond the Prism Stone blocking the lower end of the Ascending Passage are three granite plugs (still in situ), each weighing around five tons. Conventional thought asserts that these blocks would have been stored within the Grand Gallery and slid down the Ascending Passage after Khufu had been laid to rest in the King’s Chamber at the top end of this passage system. The workers who pulled the release mechanism would then have made good their own escape via some unknown, secret passage system (presently believed to be the so-called Well Shaft) leading from the Grand Gallery to the unblocked Descending Passage. Of course, such an ancillary entrance completely bypasses and fatally undermines the granite plugs that were supposed to secure the tomb’s main entrance passage.
Figure 3.5. Great Pyramid passages with the granite plugs
But why were these unwieldy granite blocks even deemed necessary? As already mentioned, entrance to the pyramid could have been secured by simply blocking the Descending Passage with rock-and-gypsum mortar in the same manner that Khufu had sealed his mother’s shaft tomb at Giza. And keeping in mind that all of this had to work the first time, how would the descent of these blocks into position within a gradually tapering passageway have been controlled and assured? In the words of Philip Femano, Ph.D.:
It is not conclusive that the builders chose to rely on the unpredictable behavior of gravity on two hewn and unpolished surfaces with different densities and coefficients of friction sliding along each other within a steep tunnel of carved block masonry, as their preferred method of securing a royal burial chamber. Likewise, it is not clear why the builders did not simply seal the pyramid at its main entrance on the north face, sliding the plugs from outside the pyramid into the initial, upper segment of the Descending Passage, capping the plugs with a casing stone, and dissuading anyone from entering the entire pyramid in the first place.
Unless one is to believe that the builders assumed ancient plunderers would stumble on the original entrance, crawl down the unremarkable Descending Passage to reach what appeared to be an “unfinished” Subterranean Chamber and be convinced that there were no other passages to plunder in the Great Pyramid, one is left to wonder why the builders allowed easy passage (or at least such an easy breach) down the Descending Passage at all.10
The Ante Chamber and the Portcullis Slabs
Having discovered the upper passage system (if by no other means then certainly via the clues left behind by the builders), the task for the intruders would then have been to work around the granite stones that blocked this passage (assuming, of course, that they had not discovered the secret exit used by the builders). Though difficult, this would not have been an insurmountable problem for a people who could quarry limestone and granite blocks of anywhere from 2.5 to 70 tons and maneuver them into place to construct a pyramid. If they could do that then it is not unreasonable to suggest that they could just as easily do the reverse by cutting around the much softer limestone.
Once entry into the Grand Gallery had been achieved, then the only remaining “security measures” protecting the King’s Chamber were three portcullis slabs made of granite and set in place within the Ante Chamber, a small room just before the King’s Chamber. But once again, as if the builders went out of their way to assist an intruder, these granite slabs would have presented little resistance since the builders—rather conveniently—had left in place a fourth granite block known as the Granite Leaf (see figure 3.6). This stone, which is set into two grooves on either side of the Ante Chamber (akin to a sliding guillotine), could easily have been used as a counterweight mechanism with which to raise each of the three portcullis blocking stones, thereby allowing easy access to the King’s Chamber.
Figure 3.6. Ante Chamber portcullis system with Granite Leaf. (A) Shows the Granite Leaf being raised using a wooden lever under the “ boss” (small stone protrusion), and (B) shows the Granite Leaf being used as a counterweight to raise one of the granite blocking slabs to the King’s Chamber. Images by Scott Creighton. Image B based on Adam Rutherford original.
So, once again we are left puzzled and perplexed as to why the builders would conceivably have left in place such a convenient and useful mechanism that would surely have assisted an intruder in gaining easy access into the heart of the pyramid. It is simply inconceivable that if this pyramid were the tomb of an ancient Egyptian king that such a mechanism would have been left in place to further assist anyone who might happen to reach the upper levels of the pyramid. For the builders to have left this counterweight stone intact is akin to a guard locking a bank vault and leaving the key in the lock. Simply removing this Granite Leaf after the King’s Chamber had been sealed would have made it so much more difficult (though not impossible) for any intruder to then raise the portcullis blocking slabs. Yet the Granite Leaf counterweight was left in place and intact—the key left in the lock—and we have to ask why.
In summary then, what we have here is an accessible “map” of the Great Pyramid’s interior passage system (the trial passages) outside the pyramid. We have easy access to the Descending Passage as it was never blocked. We have the camouflaged junction to the upper Ascending Passage conveniently marked on the floor of the Descending Passage. And we have an intact counterweight system to facilitate the raising of the portcullis blocks that were supposedly the final barrier to the King’s Chamber.
Given all of this, one has to conclude that the ancient architects went out of their way to ensure that the Great Pyramid (and its internal chambers), although reasonably secure, was in no way as tightly secure as the builders could have made it; it is almost as though the builders were going out of their way to invite relatively easy access to whatever lay within.
8. INTRUSIVE BUR
IALS
Intrusive burials were part of a long tradition in ancient Egypt. Two such burials were discovered at Giza within G3 and G3b (Menkaure’s Pyramid and one of his queens’ pyramids). We have to ask: Why would such an intrusive burial be allowed to occur? Intrusive burial implies that an original burial was removed to allow for the intrusive burial to then take place. While these two acts may have been separated by a long period of time and completely unrelated to one another, it was the custom in ancient Egypt that if the body of the king was desecrated or otherwise destroyed by looters, then a ka statue could be made and placed within the tomb to serve in place of the original royal mummy that had perhaps been desecrated and/or removed. In this way the King’s afterlife among the gods would be secured, as would the security of the kingdom. This religious belief and the facts that no original burial was found and that it was clearly considered permissible for someone else to use the pyramid as a tomb much later all strongly suggest that these pyramids had never actually been used as tombs in the first place.
9. QUEENS, BOATS, AND SOUL SHAFTS
Given that the afterlife in early Egyptian dynastic history was the reserve of the king and the pyramid was regarded as his “instrument of transfiguration and ascension” that would transform the king’s ka and ba into an akh that could then ascend to the gods in the heavens, why then would pyramids have been constructed for Khufu’s queens? Because it was not expected that the queens would receive such a soul transfiguration, why would it have been deemed necessary to build them an instrument of transfiguration; that is, a pyramid?
The same question can be asked of the boat pits around some of the Queens’ Pyramids at Giza. If the afterlife was reserved for the king and his soul would journey through the Duat on a ritual vessel known as a solar barque, why were such features provided for queens when it was not expected that they would receive such an afterlife?
The Secret Chamber of Osiris: Lost Knowledge of the Sixteen Pyramids Page 8